Tracks of wisdom

The film Tracks strips life to the bare essentials, leaving the clutter of civilisation behind, and reminds us of what is truly important with heartbreaking clarity.

Mia Wasikowska as Robyn Davidson with her four camels Dookie, Bub, Zeleika, and Goliath in one of the majestic sandy landscapes of the film Tracks.

Product details

Reviewer: Joel Burgess

G Rating:

5

The film adaptation of Australian writer Robyn Davidson’s bestselling autobiography, Tracks is an epic journey of self-discovery.

It follows the footsteps of a woman whose convictions and determination to propel herself into the unknown end up challenging society’s notions of gender, modernity, desire and necessity.

The beautiful vastness of the lonely Australian Outback is given a haunting voice through distant landscape shots that are complemented by an original score from Brooklyn-based composer Garth Stevenson.

Producer John Curran’s depiction of Davidson’s 2,700 km journey across Central and Western Australia in 1977 has just as much, if not more, fidelity and nuance as his 2006 adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s novel The Painted Veil.

Mia Wasikowska stoically portrays Davidson’s distaste for technology and aversion to people, evoking a genuine sympathetic fondness for a character that could have easily slipped into unappealing apathy. Any self-respecting greenie in the audience would be full of compassion for her stubborn character.

There is a sublime balance to this film that subtly reconciles an enormous subject matter into a refined script. It uniquely reiterates the notion that discovering one’s self first requires one to become truly lost.

Tracks strips life to the bare essentials, leaving the clutter of civilisation behind, and reminds us of what is truly important with heartbreaking clarity.

Released in cinemas Australia-wide by See-Saw Films earlier this year (6 March), the film became available on DVD and Blu Ray on 25 June, 2014.